Trajectory of high sensitivity c-reactive protein and incident heart failure in black adults: the jackson heart study

Purpose of Study: Studies on atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation use a blanking period of 90 days post ablation to exclude AF reoccurrence events.More recent studies have shown that freedom from AF occurrence during the blanking period predicts longer-term success in catheter ablation.This correlation is important when setting realistic expectations for AF ablation outcomes and management strategy.Using the data from AF ablation procedures performed at our institution, we hope to ascertain if there is a relationship between AF occurrence within the blanking period after ablation and long-term success.We then determine factors that predicts AF occurrence during the blanking period.Methods Used: We performed a retrospective analysis of 449 patients with AF who underwent AF ablation at our university hospital over a 7-year period.Patient demographics and AF ablation procedure details were obtained using electronic medical records.Data was compiled using Redcap and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 28.Blanking period was defined as 90 days post AF ablation.Significance was assessed with the Chi-Square test for p-values ≤0.05.Summary of Results: A total of 449 patients underwent AF ablation at our institution during this period.385 patients had data of long-term AF reoccurrence event.175 patients had long term reoccurrence and 78 (45%) of these had occurrence of AF during the blanking period.210 patients did not have long term recurrence after the blanking period and 22 (10.5%) of these had AF during the blanking period ( p-value of <0.001).Predictors of occurrence of AF during blanking period are (table 1) age ≥50 years ( p-value 0.027), sleep apnea ( p-value 0.047), insulin dependent diabetes mellitus ( p-value 0.001), liver disease ( p-value 0.029), cardiomyopathy ( p-value 0.032), presence of pacemakers ( p-value <0.001), and previous percutaneous coronary intervention ( p-value 0.048).